At least 21 people have been killed and 27 injured in a car bomb at a market in southern Baghdad, Iraqi police say. Correspondents say the attack, apparently aimed at a police patrol in the al-Doura area, is the deadliest car bombing of civilians in weeks. The market was mostly Shia Muslim in an area torn by sectarian violence. The blast came as visiting UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Iraqi leaders to put aside sectarianism to form a government of national unity. Doura is considered one of the most dangerous areas of the capital with bombings a regular occurrence since the Sunni Muslim-dominated militant insurgency began in 2003. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said disgraced U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize a meeting between him and President Bush in 2002, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.Mahathir told reporters late Monday he was aware the payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn’t know who made it.“I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government,” Mahathir said. Mahathir said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation in Washington to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help “influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies.”...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10693309/from/RSS/

The head of Colombia's army has quit amid a scandal in which superiors allegedly abused young recruits. Gen Reinaldo Castellanos resigned after a magazine printed photos of 21 soldiers apparently being tortured at a base in the eastern town of Piedras. Gen Castellanos had said earlier he was ashamed of the allegations and that those responsible would be punished. President Alvaro Uribe has named Gen Mario Montoya, commander of a Caribbean division, as his replacement. Correspondents say although Gen Castellanos, 55, immediately criticised his officers, his position had become untenable. In its Sunday edition, the weekly magazine Semana said the soldiers were branded like cattle, sexually abused, or forced to eat animal faeces. It said the victims were 18 years old and came from poor families. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4736466.stm

A white powder that caused an anthrax alert at a NATO center in Norway last week has been analyzed and found harmless, an alliance spokesman said Tuesday. The power was received Feb. 14 in a letter sent to the NATO Joint Warfare Center at the Jaataa complex in the western town of Stavanger. It triggered an alert, including medical treatment for a civilian employee who opened the letter. NATO spokesman Juergen Eise said police analyzed the powder and found it did not contain anthrax or other dangerous substances. "It was completely harmless," he said by telephone. He said he had no information about what the powder was, but that police would issue a final report sometime later. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1644549&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to the Middle East on Tuesday to ask Arab friends Egypt and Saudi Arabia to press for recognition of Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas to form a new Palestinian cabinet and pursue his agenda for negotiations with Israel, but the Islamist group said talks with the Jewish state would be a waste of time.The Palestinians face a looming financial crisis after Israel halted monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority. The United States and the European Union have also set political conditions for helping a government led by Hamas.But Egypt, which is the first stop on Rice's trip and which has good working relations with Hamas, will tell the secretary of state she should give Hamas more time and that cutting off aid to the Palestinians would be counterproductive....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060221/ts_nm/mideast_dc

Kazakhstan's KNB security service has said five of its officers have been arrested over the murder of opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly. The KNB said the five were members of its elite Arystan combat division. Opposition groups have accused the government of involvement in the death of Mr Sarsenbaiuly, who was found shot dead by a roadside earlier this month. He was the second opposition politician to be found dead in mysterious circumstances in recent months. The KNB in a statement called the arrested men "werewolves in epaulettes", a term for corrupt security officials, according to the Reuters news agency. A sixth man, who was also arrested for organising the operation, was a former law enforcement officer, opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbai told the Associated Press. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4736230.stm